To keep it short, there is a “fire” burning beneath the surface of a landfill, and the fire is headed towards a huge amount of radioactive waste that was illegally dumped as part of the Manhattan Project about forty years ago. There’s a lot of uncertainty about both the location of the fire and the location of the nuclear waste, and at this point they seem to be in a holding pattern about 600 feet apart.

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The fire is a “sub-surface smoldering event” – a chemical reaction below the surface that has been burning for more than five years; it’s the size of several football fields and nothing can be done to put the fire out.

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The fire is being monitored by the State of Missouri, the landfill is owned by waste hauler Republic Services, and the EPA has jurisdiction over the landfill. Not only is the site radioactive, it’s also one of the worst Superfund Sites in America. All of the players have all been talking about this Super Fund Site for over forty years, and no forward movement has ever been made. But now this fire has broken out, which creates some urgency.

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While the EPA and Republic Services have long insisted there is “no imminent danger” to the public, Rolling Stone called the unfolding scenario a “dirty bomb” and a blogger called it “the mother of all dirty bombs”. Both Lois Gibbs and Erin Brokovich have called it the “worst” environmental disaster in America. Lois is the mom involved in the Love Canal disaster, and the “mother” of the Super Fund Program.

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In 2014, Erin Brokovich came to Saint Louis to raise awareness about the Westlake Landfill; she happened to come on the same weekend that Michael Brown got shot and the moms fighting the nuclear fire were told that “there’s only room for one story at one time coming out of Saint Louis”.

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The previous Attorney General called the situation a “potential Chernobyl event”; he sued Republic Services on behalf of the State of Missouri for over 800+ violations. The local government of Bridgeton has been operating behind closed doors, the local media has not being forthright, and legislators have close ties to nuke money. All of this was in play BEFORE Donald Trump took office.

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No one knows what might happen should the fire meet the radioactive waste. The best guess is an invisible smoke plume. The Pattonville Fire Department is standing valiantly by, and will do what needs to be done, but you can tell by looking at their faces that they didn’t sign up for this.

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The site does not seem to be well monitored, data is difficult to come by, and local news is sometimes misleading. In February 2014, a mother was driving home from church on a Sunday morning, saw this smoke emerging from the landfill, and took a picture of it with her cell phone. The incident was not reported, no readings were taken and nothing was reported in the news media.

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Then again, in October 2015, a utility pole sparked a grass fire within a few feet of radioactive waste, which was noticed by a passing motorist, who drove down the street and alerted the fire department. Emergency sirens have long been missing from the area, and one has only recently been installed. For those living in Saint Louis: how would you possibly know if a toxic smoke cloud were suddenly drifting over your head?

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Below is a link to the emergency plan and contact information. The current plan is to shelter in place until instructed otherwise. If you study Chernobyl, Three Mile Island or Fukushima, in no circumstance has any government ever alerted their citizens in any timely manner in the event of any nuclear disaster.

The landfill is holding 20x spent uranium as Fukushima, and 163x Chernobyl — more spent waste than three of the biggest nuclear dumps in America, combined. It’s almost 50,000 tons of nuclear waste (barium sulfate) mixed with dirt: think of it as the size of a Nuclear Arch. Actually, it’s the size of three Nuclear Arches. If you’ve ever visited the Arch in Saint Louis, well, the Arch is really, really enormously big.

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Nobody knows exactly what’s in the landfill, but what is known is not good. A truck driver has been recorded on TV describing how he drove two semi-trucks down a ramp into the landfill, abandoned them at dusk, and watched as they were buried in dirt. Also in the dump: uranium from a German submarine, captured by the Americans on it’s way to Japan during WWII. Besides being radioactive, this is a SuperFund Site, incinerating every sort of chemical nasty into the neighborhood through a flare system.

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Every time you dig a little deeper, the story gets worse: the landfill is located in the floodplain of the Missouri River, just upstream from two intake facilities that provide drinking water for the City of Saint Louis, as well as 18 million Americans living downstream.

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The Westlake Landfill is is an old, unlined, unregulated landfill, (basically just a hole in the ground), and toxic waste flows freely into the groundwater. In 2016, the EPA named the groundwater under the landfill as it’s own new Superfund site (OU3). As beloved local Rabbi Susan Talve so eloquently stated: “If toxic waters contaminate the Missouri & Mississippi Rivers, there is not enough bottled water in all the world to save any of us”.

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October 2018 Update – In a surprise twist, the EPA will now be handing the WestLake Landfill off to the Army Corps of Engineers, which will clean up 70% of the radioactive material, load it on trains, and ship it off to a secure storage facility. For more information, go to the WestLake Landfill Facebook Page, where the “Just Moms” talk.

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Disclaimer: I am “just a mom” and a nature guide, not a scientist, doctor or investigative journalist. Most of my knowledge comes from going to meetings, reading source documents and calling people up on the phone. I live 10 miles (downwind) from the landfill and discovered the nuclear fire several years ago, while picking strawberries with families on a field trip. I’ve been studying the “Nuclear Fire” for about three years, and synthesized it into this map to honor the moms who are valiantly making a stand.

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Do your own homework: Thus ends the shortest summary I can possibly muster for a super complicated topic. Below is where I keep a hodge-podge of links, maps and detailed information for my own use. Every major media outlet in the world has gotten a hold of this story, and yet (through no fault of their own) most people in Saint Louis remain strangely unaware of this very serious situation, and the drama unfolding just a few miles from their homes.

If you live in Saint Louis, this is how you might be alerted should something happen at the landfill; text your zipcode to 888777, and get emergency text updates, in addition to frost warnings and siren tests.

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Ten Mile Radius Map – includes Clayton, Ladue, Chesterfield, Wash U, St. Peters, Florissant and Ferguson. Helen Caldicott, Nobel Prize Nominee and physician, says that nobody should live within 75 miles of a nuclear dump — even when it’s not on fire.

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The smoldering fire: Nobody really knows where the fire is burning, nor exactly where the nuclear waste is buried, and there’s always a lot of chatter about both those topics.

Around Easter 2016, the EPA came out with an announcement that new locations of radiation have been detected, and the fire was now “hundreds of feet” from the radioactive waste. The moms think it’s about 500 feet, some people think the fire is 300 feet, while others think the fire is already burning through the nuclear waste.

You can read the most recent and tedious EPA report here: EPA Region 7

Sample Map: Here’s a sample cancer cluster map from the “Just the Facts” Facebook Page. Turns out, this same Manhattan Project waste was secretly thrown around in hundreds of locations all over Saint Louis, mostly in a northern arc from Illinois to the airport to Weldon Springs, including Cold Water Creek.

Cold Water Creek: Cold Water Creek runs past the airport; nuclear waste was stored in open air barrels at Latty Avenue near the airport for over 40 years, and radioactivity dribbled into the creek. Residents who live along the creek got a weird feeling when they went to a High School reunion, and noticed everyone was sick. Here’s the Facebook Page for that group of moms: https://www.facebook.com/groups/217215444963933/

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Moms on Facebook: As a result, some moms started putting pieces of the puzzle together on Facebook. One mom (Karen Nickel) started the “Just the Facts” Page about Cold Water Creek, and another mom (Dawn Chapman) started the Page about the West Lake Landfill. It’s all the same nuclear waste from the same uranium for the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in WWII. The many cases of weird cancers popping up in Saint Louis cannot be denied, and health studies and legislation will lag the health danger by decades. There is little if any hard science on chronic low-level exposure to ionizing radiation, and the statute of limitations to seek reparations is five years. Watch for weird or rare pancreatic, brain, or appendix cancers. Also watch for anemia, cysts on the ovaries, and lupus. As an intimidation tactic, the “moms” have been subpoenaed by Republic Services for starting a Facebook Page, requesting hard-copy documentation of every Facebook post, equaling thousands of dollars. These are moms who live in three bedroom houses that share one small bathroom. The intimidation, the corruption and the media collusion are scarier than the actual nuclear fire. What’s been happening at the Westlake Landfill for decades is now happening openly in the US federal government.

Here’s where we fall down the rabbit hole, and it starts with trying to locate radiation detection monitors & a variety of data.

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Radiation detection monitors – Looks like the EPA radiation detection monitor went silent in July 2015. And then again March 2016. This is a monitor that is about 20 miles away from the landfill and located in South Saint Louis at 44 & Grand. Citizen scientists report that the detector was turned back on two days after the October EPA meeting. Lately it got turned off again. There seems to be a huge amount of confusion and controversy about the data, and where data comes from. The “War of Data” is now being turned into a “War On Data” and on Science. Looks like radiation detection monitors are being turned off all over the country, which might have something to do with the on-going Fukushima disaster. Good luck with your data hunt.

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The Missouri DNR (Department of Natural Resources) is in charge of monitoring the air around the landfill and you can find their data here: http://dnr.mo.gov/env/swmp/facilities/BridgetonSanitaryLandfill-RCP.htm. As I understand it, “the moms” basically pitched a fit, and forced the DNR to do a proper job of monitoring the fire and the air around the landfill. Lately, the DNR has popped up and said “oops, our monitors are not sensitive enough, and we’ve had the wrong ones for the past two years”. Again, data is hard to come by, and sometimes highly suspect. The EPA doesn’t do their own testing, for example. They get their data from Republic Services, who contracts testing with their vendor of choice. Remember, if there is no data, then there is “no evidence” of any kind of problem. If you watch for these two phrases, you’ll see them used a lot by the EPA and various politicians: no evidence and no imminent threat. Maybe it’s not a bad thing if the EPA gets dismantled.

Donald Trump likes to rally in Saint Charles, near Saint Louis, and the moms were able to get their home-made book to Scott Pruitt in late 2017. Scott Pruitt became alarmed, put the West Lake Landfill at the very top of the Superfund list, and is soon to make a record of decision (ROD) about the West Lake Landfill in late January 2018. Isn’t life weird?

If you live in Saint Louis, send a note to Scott Pruitt and tell him you want the nuke waste removed: Pruitt.Scott@EPA.gov

Air Monitoring – Thorium & uranium particles have “somehow” escaped the landfill and made their way into nearby villages, behind refrigerators in local kitchens and into fire station monitors. It’s not that Saint Louis is going to get nuked, it’s rather citizens nearest the landfill have already been getting nuked for years. Unable to spur the EPA to proper action, the moms managed to procure independent testing, and thus undeniable evidence that radionuclides have been escaping the landfill for decades. Even the local papers had to report on it:

Thorium 230 is the signature fingerprint of the unique Belgian Congo uranium used in the Manhattan Project; it equals plutonium in toxicity and is 60,000x more times radioactive than uranium. This particular uranium is freakishly high in radioactivity, which is why it was picked to make the first nuclear bomb in the first place. Because it has a unique fingerprint, it’s easy to track. Also worth noting, this stuff gets more radioactive over time, not less.

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About the Water – In a 2015 October meeting, EPA representatives confirmed radioactivity in the groundwater, traveling in a northwest direction, adding that it posed no threat to the drinking water supply. (They also said not to swim or fish in the river). Later, the groundwater under the landfill was named it’s own SuperFund site – OU3. Contaminated groundwater is expected to meet the river in 57 years, and the starting point was 40 years ago, so the radioactivity will reach the river before today’s children graduate from high school.

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Kay Drey, well known authority on Saint Louis nuclear waste, and the godmother of the environmentalist movement in Saint Louis, says not to drink the city water, which includes North Saint Louis. And remember that leachate? Unconfirmed Facebook posts trace a pipeline from the landfill across North Saint Louis to where it dumps into a creek near Charlack in North Saint Louis, where Ferguson is located. Other Facebook posts claim that leachate trucks are dumping landfill juice into the river at Earth City. You could write a whole book on the environmental injustice aspect alone.

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Water Safety – There’s sort of a scramble among citizens to understand the drinking water, leachate and sewage situation right now, and the city water is most suspect. On March 4th, 2015 Green Spiral Tours took a learning group to the water treatment facility operated by Missouri American Water, and then again in March of 2016. A tour of the drinking water facility with the “Moms” is scheduled for sometime in 2018.

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The facility we visited is the water intake and treatment facility at Hog Hollow, located upstream from the landfill. It is operated by Missouri American Water, the largest private water treatment company in America; this treatment serves the County and delivers about 80% of the area’s drinking water.

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After the tour, twelve reasonably skeptical and reasonably informed citizens unanimously agreed that the Saint Louis County water supply seemed to be reasonably “safe”. See the “Drinking Water Tour” blog under separate Green Spiral post. Mostly Safe?

Soil Study – Here’s a peer-reviewed science paper that came out in January 2016, and it looks like the soil is contaminated in a 4 square mile radius surrounding the landfill. This is honest to goodness real science, and particularly damning information. Even the Wall Street Journal reported on it:

Erin Brokovich & Lois Gibbs – People often say that Erin Brokovich should get involved. Well, Erin came to Saint Louis and was about to give a speech about the West Lake Landfill to raise awareness when the Mike Brown got shot in 2014. Journalists told the moms that they only had room for “one story coming out of Saint Louis at a time”. Erin Brokovich knows all about the nuclear fire in Saint Louis, and won’t come within 10 miles of it due to her asthma. She often tweets about the West Lake Landfill to get the President’s attention.

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More importantly, Lois Gibbs, the “Mother of the SuperFund”, is heavily involved in the fight to clean up the nuclear waste. A UN Human Rights Violation Tribunal was held in January 2016, and Lois is helping the moms navigate their way around Washington DC. Both Erin and Lois have said that this is “the worst environmental disaster” they have ever seen, by far. It’s heart-breaking to attend community meetings and witness people who are sick, dying, and spiraling downward with sick children.

Do Your Homework: Study the situation, and go to the meetings by the Community Action Group in Bridgeton. This thing is super complicated! It’s almost impossible for the average person can understand what’s going on. You really need someone to explain it to you.

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Watch Twitter and the Facebook Pages: Journalists are on Twitter and Facebook and you can watch them gathering information. The Facebook Page started by the moms is basically a giant learning community where citizens try to problem-solve their way out of danger. Oh, and by the way, somebody on Facebook is censoring and removing posts from anti-nuclear activists, but I guess now that we’re overrun by Russian trolls and bots, I suppose people are no longer surprised by that fact, or even think it’s conspiracy level thinking.

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Go see “First Secret City”, “Atomic HomeFront” and “Safe Side of the Fence” These are excellent documentaries, and it’s the fastest way to get up to speed quickly. If you can believe it, nuclear waste was rolled out onto the Saint Louis International Airport tarmac at night, thus letting the airplane wheels roll it up and away into the atmosphere the next day. Nice, huh?

Go to an education event: Maria Chappell-Nadal has held hundreds of educational events in North Saint Louis: Maria Chappelle-Nadal Fb

(CAG) Community Action Group: A commUnity is organized around “the moms” and holds educational events about once every two weeks.

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Tellyour family and friends about the nuclear dump and fire at the #westlakelandfill. Interestingly, I have found that people will take you more seriously… …if you whisper.

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Call legislators – Get on the JustMoms email list and follow the “call to action” where citizens call either the President, Governor, Senators, EPA or legislators in a coordinated fashion. If a legislator gets even five phone calls a day on any particular issue, that’s a big deal, so know that every call matters. JustMoms Email Sign Up

In January 2018, the call to action is to email Scott Pruitt, and tell him to remove the nuclear waste, for the sake of our drinking water, as well as the drinking water of 200 million Americans: Pruitt.Scott@EPA.gov

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Senator Blunt: (202) 224-5721

Blunt sits on important military and environmental committees. By the way, Roy’s son is a lobbyist for Exelon, a nuclear giant and one of the “responsible parties” that will bear a big portion of the clean up cost, should jurisdiction switch from the EPA to FUSRAP. If you start poking around into which politicians get special interest nuke money, and who their sons and wives work for, you probably won’t be surprised, or comforted. Currently, there is a squabble about having enough money to remove the waste, and Blunt has a lot of say in those matters. Both Missouri Senators voted to decrease FUSRAP spending this year, and the FUSRAP budget is already laughably small. Again, not comforting. Blunt’s Chief of Staff for 6 years (Greg Hartley) left to join “Cloakroom Advisors”, a lobbying firm hired by Republic Services, which gave them $80k, probably to fight the FUSRAP legislation.

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Thank Congressman Lacy Clay: 202-225-2406.

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Congresswoman Ann Wagner: I just can’t even begin…

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Senator Claire McCaskill: 202-224-6154

Thank Senator McCaskill for pushing SB2306 through the Senate. Claire has breast cancer. Send her your wishes for wellness.

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Tell Your Story: The West Lake Landfill story is complicated and everyone interprets it differently; in the end, tell your story and do what’s best for you. This blog is my attempt to make sense of something that makes no sense. Whatever you do, don’t do nothing, for we now live in a world where “Polite People get Poisoned.”

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In short: If you read and digest all the above links, it’s impossible to escape the conclusion that Saint Louis is sitting on “a domestic dirty bomb” — and furthermore, the fuse is lit and the clock is ticking. The stakes are high, the future is uncertain, and it’s basically a small band of moms with sick kids and no money, versus multiple well-funded and well organized special interest groups, plus a sociopathic federal government that loves money and power over all beings.

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Voodoo Tale: At long last, let me to leave you with this African voodoo tale about Madame Kipisee, who lives in the uranium hole in the Belgian Congo, and was cheated of her dark treasure by white men from the north, in a bad deal. She now rouses from her slumber and seeks revenge by destroying the earth and all earth’s children in a blind rage that spares no living thing. We must put Madame Kipisee back to sleep in the ground, and never let her be cheated again. What goes around comes around, and the “Fat Man” we dropped on Hiroshima is coming back to haunt us, as a reminder that everything you do, always comes back to you. Shut down all nukes; Albert Einstein called nuclear energy “a really stupid way to boil water”.

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The message and the messenger – So after a roller coaster of events, it’s now basically a race between public pressure, and the fire. In the end, the nuke waste must be removed, nearby citizens must be evacuated, and the moms must claim victory for Saint Louis. (Not that escaping nuclear catastrophe is a “victory”). The fate of Saint Louis is in the hands of the American Congress, and we’ll now see just how high, or how low, special interest money will go. I am your messenger; take what resonates, and do with it what you will. Below are “the moms”, who, along with many others, are making a valiant stand in the face of a nuclear fire, and to whom Saint Louis will owe a great future debt of gratitude.

Thank you for your very eloquent summation. I, too, encourage people “don’t take my word for it, educate yourself.” I see the word “legacy” used alot in the context of nuclear waste sites. I keep wondering if those of you who deny the dangers are prepared to leave that as your legacy to future generations. What if you’re wrong??

Contamination of St. Louis is not magically centered at the landfill. The whole of SL is a highly radioactive nightmare of epic proportions. I will put up a link for you for a better understanding of what your dealing with. Scroll down to ‘background’, within this section click on Contamination & Chronology. Now research what you don’t understand.

Legacy nuclear waste at the landfill can never be removed. This is an underground smoldering event, not a fire. If it was a fire, most of SL would be dead or dying. It appears an ‘effort’ is being made to keep oxygen out, gas vents release pressure [and radiation] Note that radioactive isotopes land at will. Some areas more ‘hot’ than others.
This is of concern, but the main issue is inhalation of said isotopes.